Device for capturing cockroaches

ABSTRACT

A device for capturing cockroaches which has an attracting body having a food retainer and a plurality of passages connecting the food retainer to the exterior. A lower shield plate open-able only from the exterior is disposed in each passage, and a capturing body having removable upper shield plates rests on the attracting body and has communication ports opposite to the lower shield plates at the bottom thereof. The upper shield plates are openable only from the attracting body side at the communication ports. The lower shield plates are rotatably supported on the upper portion of the passages by bearing shafts and are inclined toward the food retainer side. Each lower shield plate has a ventilating portion of sawtooth shape at its lower end and preferably a balance weight on the upper end thereof on the other side of the bearing shaft from the ventilating portion.

[22] Filed:

United States Patent 11 11 Meguro et al. p i

[ DEVICE FOR CAPTURING COCKROACHES [75] Inventors: Hisakatu Meguro;Takayoshi Muramoto; Shingi Nishino;

Yasuharu Takei; Hiroshi Yoshizane, all of Hiroshima-ken, Japan [73]Assignee: Fumakilla Limited, Tokyo, Japan June 22, 1972 [21] Appl. No:265,256

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 20, 1971 Japan 46-74313 Aug.20, 1971 Japan 46-74314 [52 us. Cl. 43/121 [51] Int. Cl ..A01m l/l0 [58]Field of Search 43/121 56 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS I1,134,318 4/1915 Deardoff 43/121 1,788,047 1/1931 Brunner 43/121 X 11113,802,116 Apr. 9, 1974 Primary Examiner-Antonio F. Guida AssistantExaminer-Daniel J. Leach Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Armstrong & Wegner [57] ABSTRACT A device for'capturing cockroaches which has an attractingbody having a food retainer and a plurality of passages connecting thefood retainer to the exterior.

A lower shield plate open-able only from the exterior is disposed ineach passage, and a capturing body having removable upper shield platesrests on the attracting body and has communication ports opposite to the1 lower shield plates at the bottom thereof. The upper shield plates areopenable only from the attracting body side at the communication ports.The lower shield plates are rotatably supported on the upper por- 7 tionof the passages by bearing shafts and are inclined toward the foodretainer side. Each lower shield plate has a ventilating portion ofsawtooth shape at its lower end and preferably abalance weight on theupper end thereof on the other side of the bearing shaft from theventilating portion.

12 Claims, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 91914 SHEEIiUFd PATENTEBAPR 9I974 sumu ora l DEVICE FOR CAPTURING COCKROACI-IES This inventionrelates to a device for capturing cockroaches. Although harmful insectssuch as cockroaches were originally from the Torrid Zone, theirdistribution area is increasingly expanded as the human culture pro-'gressesand the circumstances ofhuman life is varied with the result thatcockroaches have increased all over the world to impart a great deal ofdefects to the human life. The cockroaches are grotesque and smellpeculiarly bad thus giving us an uncomfortable and dirty feeling.Further, they propagate pathogenic bacteria such as dysentery bacillus,colon bacillus, poliovirus, etc. and are thus most harmful insects.These cockroaches live in the residence of human beings, and hidethemselves from the human world in the daytime in groups and activate atnight so as to obtain food. In addition, they are very harmfulpolyphagous insects, and feed-not only human foods, but paper, beingscatophagous, and propagate greatly, and indefinitelydevelop to live forlong periods with the result that it is difficult to eliminate them. Inorder to eliminate them at present, there exist food poisoninginsecticides, residual coating insecticides, etc., but they arerelatively ineffective.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a noveldevice for capturing cockroaches.

-It is another object of the present invention to provide a device forcapturing cockroaches which may exterminate the cockroaches sanitarily,simply, efiiciently andpositively by utilizing their habits againstthem. 7 'It is a further object of the present inventionto provide amethod of capturing cockroaches. 1

his still another object of the present invention to provide adevice'for capturing cockroaches which .is adapted forgatheringpreferably'and using attractive foods. I a Still furtherobjects and the entire scope of applicability of the present inventionwill become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; itshould be understood, however, that the detailed description andspecific example, while indicating preferred embodiments of theinvention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changesand modification within the spirit and scope of'the invention willbecome apparent to'those skilled in the art from this detaileddescription. i T These objects are performed by'a device for capturingcockroaches which comprises an attracting body having'a food retainerand passages formed from the exterior of .the food retainer toboth sidewalls and a lower shield plate openable only from the exterior in thepassages, and a capturing body having a removable upper shield platerested on the attracting body'and having communication ports opposite tothe lower shield plate at bottom thereof and'upper shield .plateopenable only from the attracting body side at the communication portsto permit removal.

Whenthe device for capturing cockroaches of the present invention isplaced where the cockroaches are frequentlypresent, the cockroacheswhichhide themselves behind the articles at daytime crawl about at night to,obtain food, whereupon they gather by the attraction of the smell offood in the capturing device, and migrate through the passages thereinto push .up the lower shield plate to enter the food retainer thereof,and are prevented from escaping by the lower shield plate. Entry intothe capturing chamber occurs by of the capturing body of the device;FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a further'embodipushing the uppershield plate in a vertical direction at the bottom of the body of thecapturing device through the communication port. The cockroaches thusentered into the capturing chamber cannot escape any further, and willtherefore die. In order to treat the captured cockroaches, the capturingbody is removed therefrom,'and the cockroaches captured therein aretaken out.

The invention will be readily understood from the following description,when read together with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device for capturing cockroachesaccordingto the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the attracting body of the device;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the attracting body;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the device taken along the line IV-lV inFIG. 3; 7

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the capturing body of the device;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the bottom of the capturing body; 7

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the device taken along the line VII-VII inFIG. 6;

FIG. 8 and 9 are perspective views of the lower shield plate of thedevice;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the attractingbody of the device;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of another embodiment ment of theattracting body of the device; and

FIG. 13 is a perspective view' of a further embodiment of the capturingbody of the device.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, which show the device for capturingcockroaches which is the subject of the present invention, an attractingbody 1 has a food retainer 2 with a recess at the center thereof, andpassages 3 radially formed by side walls 4 for communicating theexterior of the device with the food retainer 2 and lower shield plates5 provided in the passages 3 and mounted rotatably with bearing shafts 6at both side walls 4 of the passages and at the upper portions of thewalls 4 at theupper ends thereof. The lower shield plate 5 is inclinedtoward the food retainer 2, and has ventilating portion 7 of sawtoothshape formed at the lower end thereof. The lower shield plate 5 has afeather plate which opens by a slight external force but does not openby an internal force as will be hereinafter described. Therefore, thefood retainer 2 is normally isolated from the exterior of the device bythe side walls 4, lower shield plates 5, and capturing body 8.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, which illustrate thecapturing body of the device, the capturing body 8 is so constructedthat the portions corresponding to thepassages 3 and the lower shieldplates 5 in the attracting body are located on the bottom plate 9 andare open. Bearing members 11 are provided at the positions interleavedwiththe communication ports 10 of these openings, and both sides of oneend of each upper shield plate 12 is rotatably supported by the bearingshafts atthese bearing members 11. These upper shield plates 12 closethe communication ports 10 and the ventilating portions 13 of sawtoothshape are formed at theother end of each the upper shield plates 12.Further, engaging legs 14 are provided such as to correspond to theoutside of the side walls 4 of the food retainer 2 of the attractingbody 1. The capturing body 8 has a capturing chamber 16 formed byplacing a cover on the bottom plate 9. A knob 17 is provided on thecover 15 for conveniently remove the cover 15. The capturing body 8 thusconstructed engages removably with the engaging legs 14 correspondinglyto the side walls 4 of the attracting body 1;

The first feature of the capturing device of the present inventionresides in the structure of the lower shield plates 5 provided at theinlet passages 3 as the first barrier for attracting to capture thecockroaches. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9,which illustrates the lowershield plate of the capturing device, the lower shield plate 5 has abearing shaft 6 at the upper end thereof, which shaft 6 is rotatablysupported at both side walls 4 forming passages 3 and at the upperportion of the walls 4, and inclined toward the food retainer 2.Therefore, the lower shield plates 5 thus inclined toward the foodretainer 2 opens when pushed from the exterior, but since the lower endof the plates 5 reach the bottom, even if they are pushed from theinterior, they do not open at all. Since these shield plates 5 areinclined, they are adapted so that the cockroaches which have enteredinto the attracting portion head toward the capturing chamber 16 as willbe hereinafter described. As shown in FIG. 8, the lower shield plates 5may be of mere plate, but in order to enhance the capturing effect,using light material'to enable pushing with extremely slight force, andas shown in FIG. 9, a balance weight 18 is provided at the opposite endof the lower shield plate Sand extending from the bearing shaft 6provided at the upper end thereof as the pivoting center of the lowershield plate 5 so as to enable opening to occur with extremely slightforce with the result that the cockroaches may initially entereasilyinto the inter-' This balancing may be varied in any rate according tothe weight of thelower shield plate 5 extended to the opposite side fromthe bearing shaft 6, but if the balance weight is greater, it isanticipated that the cockroaches which have entered into the interiormay raise the lower shield plate 5 to escape, and accordingly thepreferable weight of the lower shield plate is from 0.02

to 0.2 g. It is also preferable that the proper size of cutout ofsawtooth shape is provided at the lower end of the lower shield plate 5so that it is feasible that the smell of the attracting food in theinterior of the device willemanate outwardly, and so that the food canbe seen from the exterior, and may be contacted directly from theexterior, and the ventilating portion 7 is. provided thereat, which isvery preferred at the viewpoint of the habits due to the activity of thecockroaches in searching for food. As is clear from the thirdembodiment, there exists considerable difference depending upon thepresence or absence of the ventilating portion 7 at the lower end of thelower shield plate.

The second feature of the capturing device of the present inventionresides in the separate provision of the attracting portion and thecapturing portionin such a manner that the capturing portion isremovably provided at the upper body of the attracting portion Thisresults from the detailed studies of the habit of the cockroaches, suchthat the cockroaches move freely on the flat surface and inclinedsurface in their normal traveling activities, but when they have enteredinto the closed box, they abruptly move quickly to look for escapingroute, in which case they look for a first upward escaping port, and ifno such escaping port is found thereat, they look for other places.Therefore, the device for capturing cockroaches which is the subjectmatter of the present invention first'attracts the cockroaches to theattracting portion, and then encourages them upwardly, and when theyhave entered into the capturing chamber 16, they cannot escape at all.

For such purposes, the capturing body 8 has communication ports 10opposite to the passages 3 on the bottom plate 9, and upper shieldplates 12 are provided at the communication ports 10. Ventilatingportion 13 of sawtooth shape is formed normally on the upper'shieldplate 12. Therefore, the cockroaches which have entered into theattracting portion of the device lose their escape route by the lowershield plates 5, and advance along the upper shield plate 12 to push upthe upper shield plate l2'from the communicationpo'rt 10 provided at thebottom plate 9 of the capturing body 8 according to their habits so asto enter the capturing chamber 16. Since the upper shield plate 12 isrotatably supported at body sides by the bearing member 11 provided onthe bottom plate 9 by the bearing shaft provided at one end of theshield plate 12, it may open if pushed from the lower portion, but sincethe other end thereof is supported by the bottomplate 9, it may not openeven if pushed from the upper portion. Accordingly, the cockroachesentered into the capturing chamber 16 completely lose any method ofescape and die.

Thus, since the capturing device of this invention has a separateattracting portion and the capturing portion, the cockroaches which haveentered into the attracting portion move toward the capturing portionaccording to their habit before feeding upon the food thus beingeconomical in saving the food. Further, since the capturing portion ofthe device is so provided as to be easily removable in a free fashionthe capturing body 8 is removed from the attracting body 1 whenasufficient number of cockroaches have entered thereinto, so as to treatthe captured cockroaches by any means such as immersing in water, etc.Thus,'only the food is saved, but the device may always be renderedclean with only a cleaning of the capturing body 8 without cleaning theentire device frequently. Since the device is thus constructed, the foodretainer 2 of the attracting portion may always be maintained vacant,and accordingly it does not afiect the cockroaches entered thereafter,but the following cockroaches may enter continuously to capture of agreat deal of cockroaches with extreme efficiency. In addition, if theengaging legs 14 are formed in box communication with the capturingchamber 16, the cockroaches which entered into the capturing chamber 16fall therein to be contained, and therefore a great deal of cockroachesare captured in a compact manner thus rendering the device mostadvantageous.

1f the food retainer is so constructed as to also function as thecapturing portion, the larva of small cockroaches may escape from theventilating portion 7 at the lower end of the lower shield plates 5, butin the capturing device of the present invention, the larva move towardthe capturing chamber 16 according to their habit, and if the cutouts ofthe ventilating portion 13 of the upper shield plate 12 are lessened,small larva may easily be captured. As shown by the fourth embodiment,this does not affect greatly capturing of large type of blackcockroaches, but clearly affects the capturing of small type brownfeather cockroaches, and particularly their larva. If the cover is madeof transparent plastic, the interior of the device is easily seen so asto immediately investigate the captured state cockroaches, andaccordingly is very convenient. As the de vice for capturing thecockroaches of the present invention may be of any circular, elliptical,rectangular, square, polygonal shape, etc., and the inlet may not onlybe in one direction, but in a multi-direction. The place ofuse may beoptional depending upon the cap turing effect.

Reference is now made to FIGS. and 11, which show another embodiment ofthe device for capturing the cockroaches of this invention, and will nowbe described as follows: 7 e

This embodiment is similar to the previous embodiment, but the shape ofthe device is circular. The engaging legs 14 are constructed so that thecapturing chamber of the capturing body 8 is simultaneously engaged withthe cutout recess portion 19 of the attracting body 1. Therefore, thecockroaches which have entered into the capturing chamber 16 fall in theinterior of the engaging legs 14 of box shape to be contained,

and the upper portion of the capturing chamber 16 is opened to becomearemoving port, at which point a cover 17 is removably placed thereon.

Referring now to FIGS. l 2and l '3, which showa further embodiment ofthe device ofthis invention for capturing the cockroaches this furtherembodiment of the device of this invention will now be described.

This embodiment is similar to the previous embodimerits, but the foodretainer 2 and the passages 3 are formed by recessed walls 4, andengaging grooves 20 are formed on the upper surface of the recessedwalls 4. 0n the other hand, 'a corresponding number ofpro; jections 21to the number of the engaging grooves 20 areprojected for removableengagement with the err-- EXAMPLE 1 In the device for capturingcockroaches shown in FIGS. 1 to "7, the differences of the forcesrequired for pushing up the lower shield plate 5 provided in thepassages 3 due to their structural difference were measured. Themeasurement was conducted as to the device of the single feather platetype shown in FIG. 8 and as to the device of the balance spring platetype shown in FIG. 9 in such a manner that the thickness of the featheror shield plate 5 was made constant and the force required forraisingthe end of the shield plate 5 at the bearing shaft 6 as a fulcrumwas measured by weight and expressed by the ratio with respect to thatof the balance type. When the force of the device of balance type was 1,that ofand single feathertype was 2.1. The feather plate of the balancetype used here had the ratio by weight of the front and rear portions ofthe cheese, potato, honey, rice bran, sesame, or their mixdimethyl0-(3-methyl-4-nitrophenyl) thionophos phate(Phenitrothion), 0,0-diethyl0-2-isopropyl-4- methyl-pyrimidyl-I 6)-thionophosphate (Diazinon),

5-Benzyl-3-furylmethyl chrysanthemate (Resmethrin),

bearing shaft of 6 to 4:3.

EXAMPLE 2 vice for capturing the cockroaches shown inFIGS. l to 7 wasintroduced with 5 g. for sugar as the food of the cockroaches and wasplaced in the corner of the box. Then, the number of capturedcockroaches were observed after one day. As the lower shield plate, theplate of single feather plate type shown in FIG. 8 and the plate ofbalanced feather plate type shown in FIG. 9 were used in' such a mannerthat both feather or shield plates were provided with cutouts atthe endas the ventilating portion 7. Similar experiments were conducted as tothe larva of black cockroaches, imagos of brown feather cockroaches and.larva thereof. The capturing effect due to the difference of thestructure of the lower shield plate were examined. The results were asin Table I:

TABLE 1 Number of Captured Cockroaches Black Cockroaches Brown FeatherCockroaches Type of No. of Shield Experi- Images Larvas Imago: LarvasPlate merits Balance type I 3 6 4 4 2 6 8 7 1,1 3 2 l2 8 I0 4 5 I 8 l0 7Mean 4.0 8.5 7.2 8.0 Single feather type 1 l 3 7 6 2 2 l 2 3 3 2 3 .5 24 4 3 2 5 Mean 2.2 2.5 4.0 4.0

EXAMPLE '3 In the method of the Example 2, the capturing effects of thecockroaches were examined as to the device having the lower shield platehaving sawtooth cutouts as ventilating portion and the device having thelower shield plate having no ventilating portion, and the re- Sultsshown in Table 2 were obtained. The lower shield plate was of featherbalance type.

TABLE 2 Number of Captured Cockroaches Black Cockroaches Brown FeatherCockroaches Type of No. of Shield Experilmagos Larvas lmagos LarvasPlate ments With ventilating l 2 6 8 3 portion 2 l 4 l 9 3 5 3 l4 6 4 47 l2 13 Mean 3.0 5.0 l 1.0 7.7 Without ventilating l O O l 2 portion 2 00 0 3 3 0 O l 0 4 0 0 O I Mean 0 0 0.5 1.5

EXAMPLE4 In the method of the Example 2, the capturing effects of thecockroaches were examined as to the device having separate attractingportion and capturing portion as the present invention, and the devicehaving the attracting portion functioning as the capturing portion instructure, and the results shown in Table 3 were obtained. The lowershield plate was of balance type having ventilating portion at the endshown in FIG. 9 for both devices.

TABLE 3 l. A device for capturing cockroaches comprising an attractingbody having a food retainer, passages formed by vertical side walls andconnecting said retainer with the exterior of the device, a lower shieldplate adapted for opening only from the exterior and located in each ofthe passages, a capturing body having a removable bottom plate adaptedfor resting on said attracting body and having communication portsopposite to and connecting with said passages, an upper shield platecovering said communication ports and openable only from said attractingbody side.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein each lower shield plate isrotatably supported on the upper portions of the side walls by a bearingshaft located at the upper end of said plate and each lower shield plateis inclined in such a manner that the lower end thereof is relativelyclose to the food retainer area.

3. A device as set forth in claim I, wherein each lower shield plate hasa ventilating portion of sawtooth shape at the lower end thereof.

4. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein each lower shield plate hasa balance weight at the opposite side aroundthe bearing shaft of theupper end thereof.

5. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein each lower shield plate hasa balance weight at the upper end and around the bearing shaft, and alsohas a ventilating portion of sawtooth shape at the lower end thereof.

6. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein each upper shield plate issupported by a bearing member provided at one end thereof and on thebottom plate of said capturing body.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6, wherein each upper shield plate hasa ventilating portion of sawtooth shape at the end opposite the bearingmember.

8. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said capturing body isremovable from the attracting body and a capturing chamber is formed bya cover which encloses the bottom plate.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8, wherein said capturing body hasengaging legs adapted for engagement with the outside of the side wallsof said attracting body in a complementary and adjacent manner.

10. A device as set forth in claim 9, wherein said engaging legs are ofbox shape to form capturing chambers.

l l. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein said capturing body has aremoving port at a periphery thereof,

. at which port a closing plate is engaged with sliding turing body hasa plurality of projections removably engaging within the said grooves,said projections being located on the lower surface of the bottom platethereof.

1. A device for capturing cockroaches comprising an attracting bodyhaving a food retainer, passages formed by vertical side walls andconnecting said retainer with the exterior of the device, a lower shieldplate adapted for opening only from the exterior and located in each ofthe passages, a capturing body having a removable bottom plate adaptedfor resting on said attracting body and having communication portsopposite to and connecting with said passages, an upper shield platecovering said communication ports and openable only from said attractingbody side.
 2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein each lowershield plate is rotatably supported on the upper portions of the sidewalls by a bearing shaft located at the upper end of said plate and eachlower shield plate is inclined in such a manner that the lower endthereof is relatively close to the food retainer area.
 3. A device asset forth in claim 1, wherein each lower shield plate has a ventilatingportion of sawtooth shape at the lower end thereof.
 4. A device as setforth in claim 2, wherein each lower shield plate has a balance weightat the opposite side around the bearing shaft of the upper end thereof.5. A device as set forth in claim 2, wherein each lower shield plate hasa balance weight at the upper end and around the bearing shaft, and alsohas a ventilating portion of sawtooth shape at the lower end thereof. 6.A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein each upper shield plate issupported by a bearing member provided at one end thereof and on thebottom plate of said capturing body.
 7. A device as set forth in claim6, wherein each upper shield plate has a ventilating portion of sawtoothshape at the end opposite the bearing member.
 8. A device as set forthin claim 2, wherein said capturing body is removable from the attractingbody and a capturing chamber is formed by a cover which encloses thebottom plate.
 9. A device as set forth in claim 8, wherein saidcapturing body has engaging legs adapted for engagement with the outsideof the side walls of said attracting body in a complementary andadjacent manner.
 10. A device as set forth in claim 9, wherein saidengaging legs are of box shape to form capturing chambers.
 11. A deviceas set forth in claim 2, wherein said capturing body has a removing portat a periphery thereof, at which port a closing plate is engaged withsliding grooves provided at the edges of said port.
 12. A device as setforth in claim 1, wherein said attracting body has a plurality ofgrooves, and said capturing body has a plurality of projectionsremovably engaging within the said grooves, said projections beinglocated on the lower surface of the bottom plate thereof.